Dear Commons Community,
Yesterday, May 17th, was the 60th Anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Decision that declared segregated public schools “unconstitutional”. In perhaps the most important decision of the 20th century, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decreed that in the field of public education, “the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” As many of us know, this decision changed the face of education throughout the country but especially in the South. The strategy to use the courts to challenge segregation in public education began in the 1930s with the NAACP under the leadership of Charles Hamilton Houston. Houston was the dean of Howard University Law School. Thurgood Marshall, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, was recruited by Houston. Houston died in 1950 and never saw the fruits of his decades of labor. For anyone wanting to read about the case, one of the more informative books, Richard Kluger’s Simple Justice is highly recommended. A foundation created by the family of Oliver Brown, the lead plaintiff in the case, and led by his daughter Linda Brown, has a plethora of resources.
The Brown Decision paved the way for much progress in education and race relations in this country but there is still much to be done in creating a truly equitable public school system.
Tony
